Blades of Time
by hydra man.EXE
Summary: Time is a never ending cycle, Axl learns this from his hero
1. Default Chapter

(I don't own any of the Mega Man Characters except Raine)

It was a normal day at Maverick Hunters HQ. X was doing some paper work, Zero was training some rookies in his troop and Axl was bored out of his mind. 'Man, there is no one to talk to', thought Axl. You see, in reploid years, Axl is considered a teenager. So naturally, Axl was both annoying and got bored easily. While Axl was busy talking to himself on how bored he was, a beautiful reploid named Raine came walking by holding a mountain of papers. Axl, being the sweet kid (or guy) he was, walked over to help her out.

"Hey, that looks a little heavy, let me help you", Axl said.

Raine said, "Sure, thank you." Both then smiled at each other. After helping Raine out, Axl decided to head to X's room to gather more info on Zero being X and Zero were his role models (I would do the same thing if I was him).

X's room was that of a normal room: desk, computer, recharge pod, a few lights, a closet for his armor, and maybe a bed for relaxation. X was busy working on some late paperwork when he heard a knock at the door, he stopped what he was doing and went to see who it was. He opened the door to find Axl standing there looking around the hallway.

"What do you need Axl", X asked. Axl just looked at him and replied, "I was bored, so I came to see if you could tell me more about Zero."

He shrugged and let Axl into his room. Axl just sat on X's bed waiting for whatever to happen. X came and sat on the chair at his desk.

"What else do you want to know about Zero?" X asked

"Everything", Axl replied.

So, X started from the beginning of the Maverick wars and all the way to the 8th uprising.

"Zero is one of the best swordsman the Maverick hunters could ever have, even before the third maverick war", X said.

"How so?" Axl asked.

"Zero is capable of wielding almost any type of solid blade or beam saber to ever be created by man and machine because he was designed to handle a sword like it was a part of his soul", X replied. What X had just said caught Axl's attention and the little reploid asked more questions.

"Why would he consider a sword to be a part of his own soul?" Axl asked.

"A master swordsman once said, and I quote, 'A person that could wield a blade as a part of his soul would be considered the greatest swordsman in the world' and Zero has been training hard ever since, to be the best swordsman in the world ", X said.

"I see, but why would he train harder if he was designed to be the best swordsman?" Axl asked.

As their little conversation carried on, outside the room, Zero stood listening to what X was telling Axl. Zero just smirked at what was going on inside the room and walked off after listening to the story for a few minutes heading to his quarters.

"Axl, you have no idea how hard it is to become the best swordsman", Zero said to himself as he opened the door to his room.

Top of Form

Bottom of Form


	2. Helping Hands

Well, you guys asked for it, so you got it, the all-new second chapter to Blades of Time, Helping Hands. A special thank you to all those who reviewed and to Mary for giving me these new ideas, I am happy that you guys could help me.

_Thinking_

Talking

(I do not own any of the Mega Man characters.)

Ch.2 "Helping Hands"

The next morning came and everyone in Maverick HQ were at their posts training incase of an attack or typing away at computers to get the reports ready to go. Axl was outside sitting under a tree thinking about what X said.

Axl POV.

"_A person that could wield a blade as a part of his soul would be considered the greatest swordsman in the world' and Zero has been training hard ever since, to be the best swordsman in the world." _Axl thought about this saying over and over again until it gave him a headache.

_"Zero must've gone through a lot to became the best, but I wonder, did he have to lose something to obtain this ability?"_

Axl thought back to one of his favorite animes, Fullmetal Alchemist. He thought that when gaining power, you had to lose something as a same amount what was called "Equivalent Exchange". He remembered the one major rule for this sequence.

_"For something to be obtained in power, something of equal value must be lost."_

Axl considered this saying to be true because of what he heard from X. Zero had once lost a loved one in the Forth Maverick Uprising and has become cold to anyone that wanted to help him except for X. However, when he came into Zero's life, it was as if his cold attitude towards life was melted away.

"_I'll have to ask Zero about this later tonight",_ Axl thought.

His thoughts were interrupted when he heard someone walking towards him. It turned out to be Zero, one of the few people Axl least expected to show up here and now.

Normal POV

Zero was in normal street clothes: red T-shirt, jeans, and black shoes with just a small hint of white. Zero saw Axl and decided to talk with him. So, Zero walked over to the tree and sat down right next to him. "Hey Axl", said Zero. "Hi Zero", Axl replied. "What are you doing out here?" Zero asked. "Nothing, just thinking", Axl said. "About what?" Zero asked.

"Anything", Axl replied.

"Ok, I'm heading back inside, if you need anything from me just ask", Zero said. "I'll let you know", Axl replied. As Zero was walking back into HQ, Axl was starting to really think about what he should ask Zero.

"Wait Zero!" Axl said.

Zero stopped and turned to Axl. Axl got up and walked toward his friend to pop the big question.

"What is it?" Zero asked.

Axl, just at the last minute, had second thoughts about the question.

"Just to tell you, I'm right here if you need me and I'll help you through any of your problems", Axl said.

Zero smiled a really big smile at this and said, "Ok pal." As Axl entered the building, Zero said to himself, "Axl, you are almost like X during the Third Maverick War when I became a part of the team." After that, he walked into the building and went back to training his troops for battle.


	3. A Blast From the Past

Disclaimer: I do not own any of the Megaman characters or any of the names from Devil May Cry that I'm gonna use.

A Blast From the Past

A week went by since Axl and Zero talked under the tree and so far, Maverick Hunter HQ was as quiet as a graveyard. Many of the hunters were on break due to there being rarely any maverick activity, but the top class hunters always find a way to pass the time. Zero was in the battle room training a new recruit for battle (no, it's not one of my characters). Axl was playing Kingdom Hearts 2 on his PS2 in his room and having a hard time trying to get past one of the major bosses. X was doing some paperwork in the command room with Alia, while Layer and Pallette where in the lounge drinking tea and talking about who knows what.

After an hour or so, Axl finally gave up and turned off the PS2 and went to get something to eat at the cafeteria. While he was walking down the halls, his thoughts went back to Zero and started to wonder about his past. Thinking more about this, on major question popped into his head _"How many friends did Zero loose in the past battles?"_ and since he was more into thinking and not watching as to were hewas going, he bumped into his friend Dracos.

Dracos was a red dragon reploid with a head of a dragon but with a human reploid body. He never got into any groups and he mostly worked alone in battle, but that was before he met Axl. His choices of weapons are his spiked gauntlets both in the shape of a dragons head, his two guns, one that is silver he calls Ebony, and the other one that is made of a different metal (I do not know what type) he calls Ivory, and his guitar/scythe he calls Nevan.

He is mostly a quiet type of person that loves to play his guitar even during the maverick battles. He got the weapons idea from one of his favorite video games, _Devil May Cry 3,_ so he made a few modifications to his electric guitar so that it could shoot out streams and even orbs of electricity and turn into a scythe whenever he wanted.

"Woah, you need to watch were your going Axl," said Dracos while he was rubbing his head from the collision.

"Sorry Dracos, my mind was somewhere else today," replied Axl.

That struck Dracos with curiosity; he knew Axl for awhile now and knew that when his mind was somewhere else, something was up. So, he just asked away.

"Ok, what's on your mind?" asked the red dragon.

"Well, I've been thinking a lot about Zero…" Axl said.

"Hmm, what about him?" questioned Dracos.

"Well, I was thinking-

Before Axl could finish his sentence, the Alarm went off all over the base. Hunters were rushing out of their rooms, grabbing their weapons, and occasionally grabbing their last bite of food for who knows if they would live through the maverick attack. Zero ran by yelling at both Axl and Dracos to get their weapons ready and to get their butts over to the command room.

"Convenient, just when you were gonna answer me, the alarm goes off," said Dracos.

"I agree, don't the mavericks EVER take a break?" asked Axl.

"Uh…is that a trick question?" asked Dracos.

"No, don't you know sarcasm when you hear it?" Axl said.

After a quick trip back to their rooms for their weapons, Axl and Dracos were in the command room for the mission briefing.

"Alright, we have reports of a maverick attack herein sector Alpha, the Forest area," Signas stated while pointing on the map of the Alpha sector.

"Any idea as to who is leading the attack?" Zero asked.

"No, we lost contact with the patrol unit before they could identify the leader." Alia replied.

"We'll need to send a two-man team to this waterfall area to deal with the boss, the rest of the hunters will distract the other mavericks at the front and you are to clear a path for the team to get to the falls, because the boss setup a anti-teleportation field around the area so whe couldn't teleport," Signas stated.

"Ok, Dracos and I will head out and distract the troops; Zero, youand Axl take of the boss at the waterfalls," X said.

"Ok with me," Axl said.

"Alright, lets go!" Zero said.

X and Dracos teleported to the front with the rest of the hunters and started to take out the others and also were clearing a path for the other teams. Axl and Zero started rushing to the waterfalls but having a little trouble with some bee robots. Even though Axl and Zero were told to be one of the best 2-way teams, the bee robots were attacking them in huge swarms of stingers and laser attacks. Zero hacked at the robots while Axl blasted their way to the waterfalls, where the boss resided. As soon as the entered the cave under the waterfall, they were attacked by exploding bee robots. After five waves of these annoying pests, they finally found the boss, and boy, was Zero shocked as to who it was.

"YOU!" Zero yelled.

"Yes, I'm back Zero, did you miss me old chum?" the person asked.

A hornet reploid descend from the ceiling looking like he was ready for a blood bath. He had at least four wings sprouting from his back, but with only two arms at his side, and with an Ace Pilot mask on his face, but without the visor. His body was painted with gold and black colors, making him look like an actual hornet. He had a weird orb on his forehead as well. His stinger was long and looked very sharp. His voice was like a maniacal laugh and from what it looked like; he was holding one of those bomb bees.

"You know this maverick Zero?" Axl asked.

"Yea, he used to bethe second-in-command of my unit and one of my best friends," Zero said.

"You mean, that's," Axl started to say.

"Yea, that's right, that's Blast Hornet!" Zero said.

"In the flesh, and I have a new surprise for you as well!" Blast cackled.

Blast started dive bombing at Zero first before he whipped around and fired a bee bomb at Axl. Axl managed to dodge the explosion and shot Blast Hornet in the back. Blast then fired his stinger at Axl, stabbing him in his leg. Axl gave a cry of pain and pulled the stinger out as he watched Blast grow a new one.Axl distracted the annoying bug by shooting of one of his wings while Zero was trying to get a hit on him with his new attack.

Zero: "SONIC BLADE!"

At that point, Zero dashed towards Blast Hornet and managed to slice off one of his wings, making it impossible to fly now. Zero dashed and slashed at Blast at least six times before he stopped and watched as Blast Hornet fell apart. At that point, Axl thought the battle was over already. However, Blast somehow brought himself back together, and even rejuvenated the wing Axl vaporized. As soon as Blast finished putting himself back together, he cackled at both of them.

"You see my new power, I now have the ability to bring myself back together no matter how many times you shoot me or slice me!" Blast cackled.

"Then I guess we'll have to keep trying then!" Zero said.

"Axl, see if you can scan him and find his weak spot!" Zero ordered.

"I'll try," Axl said.

As Zero fought his old friend, Axl used his chameleon ability and turned invisible so Blast could not see him. Axl then started to scan Blast's body for any sign of a weak spot, but he didn't find any that looked promising. When Zero cut off one of Blast's arms, that's when Axl noticed the weird orb on Blasts forehead glowed every time the annoying bee rejuvenated his body. To further his hypothesis, he blew off Blast's stinger and watched the orb glow for a moment until the stinger was fully healed. That's when he yelled to Zero.

"Aim for the orb on his forehead, that's his weak point!" Axl yelled to Zero.

"Right, here goes," Zero said.

Zero slashed off both of Blast's wings, and then went after his head. Blast Hornet then summoned more bomb bees to distract Zero until he was fully healed, but Axl was already shooting the robots down with his pistol and giving Zero time to attack. Blast tried in vain to stop Zero from even touching the orb on his head, but Zero managed to cut the orb in half before Blast could rejuvenate his wings. Blast cried out in pain as the orb was destroyed and as he was slowly falling apart, piece by piece. All that was left of him after the battle now was his head. Zero walkled over to the pile of parts and picked up the head.

"Good job Zero, you managed to beat me again, you might even be ready to take them on," Blast said to him.

"Take on who?" Zero asked as he held Blast's head in his hands.

"They are a group that call themselves the Deadly Seven, each one consisting of different weapons, strategies, and abilities. One of them has the ability to morph into any person he pleases," Blast replied.

"That's the same ability I have, but who are they really?" Axl asked.

"Hehe, you'll have to find out on your own because that's all I know" Blast said as he turned his head to look at Zero. "Goodbye old friend...maybe I'll come back again...someday and join you again...at the battle field," Blast managed to weakly say.

"Wait, don't go, we can take you back to base and put you back together again!" Zero begged.

"It's too late for me Z, without the orb, my whole body will shutdown for good, and only one person could fix it, but he's dead now. So let me rest in peace for now," Blast whispered to him

"Thank you Blast, you can rest now," Zero said with a painful voice.

"Just….watch…out...for...them...and...use...my...power to...help...you...in the...battle," Blast hornet gasped out.

After he said his last words to both Axl and Zero, he silently died in Zero's arms. One of Zero's most beloved friends was gone again. Before the battle even began, Zero couldn't bring himself to kill his friend again, until he saw that he had no choice in the matter. Zero could barely move after he watched Blast die again by his hands and he silently cried over his old friends death. Axl stood near him and silently watched as his hero cried.

They later teleported back with Blast's head still in Zero's hands. Everyone welcomed them with a joyous attitude about their victory, but Zero was stilldown about Blast Hornet. He buried the head next to the tree where he and Axl talked the day before. Axl helped him with the burial and made a small tombstone for Zero's fallen friend.

"I'm sorry Z," Axl said.

"It's not your fault Axl, he was being controlled and I set him free, no more pain and suffering," Zero said in a sad voice.

"I hope this never happens again," Axl said.

"Me too pal, me too," Zero said silently.

As Zero and Axl walked of into the building, Blast Hornet's spirit gave a final wave goodbye to his friend and flew off into the sky.

(**blowing his nose on some tissue** that was sad chapter. A special treat for everyone since my birthday is coming up, and I decided to surprise everyone with this new chapter. Hope you enjoyed reading it as much as I did writing it. Read and Review please!)


	4. A Thanksgiving to Remember redone

Words from the author...Since 1 or two of the three earlier chapters were sad, I decided to add some humor to the story to liven it up abit.

Axl: "In short, he ran out of ideas for angst..."

Me: "Another crack like that from you chameleon-butt and you'll be in a world of hurt!"

Axl: "Oh please, what can you do?"

Me: "Pardon me folks, I'll be right back."

(Drags Axl into another room and closes the door. A few seconds later, everyone starts to hear shrieks and moans of pain. I later appear out of the room.)

Me: "Put some ice on it; you'll fell a lot better."

Axl: "THE PAIN!"

Zero: "That wasn't very nice hydra."

Me: "You, get lost before I castrate you with a dull spoon."

Zero: "Gone!"

Ugh, the irony of it all. Anyway, enjoy the story.

Disclaimer: I do not own any of the megaman characters except for Dracos.

A Thanksgiving to Remember

Thanksgiving came very early for everyone, even the mavericks as well were calling a holiday for a while, and everything inside HQ was normal again, except for the fact that Axl and Dracos planned something for Zero. They were planning on a prank that would deal a huge blow to Zero's ego, and just piss him off as well. After about a few hours, Axl and Dracos finally agreed on dying his hair (I will not say which color yet). Axl managed to grab Zero's attention with a duel for awhile, while Dracos went out to one of those beauty shops and bought some hair dye. Axl later planned to rig the turkey to explode when Zero carved it.

"You think this will work?" Dracos asked handing him the bottle.

Axl replied, "Of course, it's a full proof plan!"

Axl later snuck in to Zero's room, when he was training, and switched his conditioner with the hair dye Dracos finally found while he still had the chance. He got out through the ventilation shaft though because Zero was already walking through the door. Zero then went into his bathroom, turned on his shower, and jumped in. Axl had to REALLY get out of there before he was spotted and killed on the spot.

"Ah, nothing a nice hot shower on a cold day, after training for five hours strait of course." Zero said with a smile. He washed his aching muscles and just relaxed for a while. He then reached for his shampoo and got it into a lather and rinsed. Next, he picked up his so-called conditioner and rubbed it in. After his steamy shower, he got out and dried off without noticing his now color changed hair. When he walked up to the mirror reaching for his comb...

Axl and Dracos were playing video games when they and the whole base heard a huge scream of bloody murder. Silence was upon the base until Dracos spoke up.

"What the hell was that?" Dracos questioned.

Axl answered with a smirk, "Hell just froze over and satan aint happy."

Everyone, even the navigators, X, and commander Signas, were crowded around Zero's room wondering what the screaming was about. Zero came stomping out of his room with his now, recently discovered, PINK hair. The silence ended in a few seconds because everyone was laughing their own butts off because of his hair. Zero gave them a glare, which would even make Sigma and the devil flinch, and started on his search for Axl.

Dracos and Axl managed to hide again in the kitchen until it was time for dinner. Axl helped the cooks bring out the turkeys, mashed potatoes, various fruits and cooked veggies, and last, but not least, the pies. Every single pie was right there on the table. Everyone was gathered in the gym for the big feast of turkeys and other assortments of food. Before the carving began, Axl switched out the turkey Zero was gonna carve with the exploding one. Since it was the Class S and Class A commander's job to carve the turkey, Zero and X had to eat last before passing out shares of the big bird. X was having a tough time since the new cook kind of burnt his turkey and Zero was just having a tough time using a butcher knife for his, so he resorted to carving the beast with his beam saber.

After slicing most of it into equal shares, when his saber barely even nicked the belly of the turkey, it blew up in his face. Everyone just gawked as to what happened and at the site. Stuffing was all over his face, pieces of meat were in his hair, the legs were imbedded in his chest, and to top it all off, on the top of his head, there was a steaming pile of gravy, which was cooked into the meat, dripping down his face. No words could describe how furious he was, and soon figured out it was the gruesome-twosome, aka Axl and Dracos, since they helped bring out the food.

Axl was in a fit of laughter and soon fell over in his seat, due to the laughing. Everyone else joined a few seconds later, but was silenced from the look Zero gave them. Dracos, who later figured out it was time to run like hell out of the base and find a GOOD hiding spot, was gone faster than you can blink. Axl looked at Zero like a scared puppy and slowly trying to run away from the Red Demon's wrath.

"N-N-Now Zero, calm down, it was just a joke," Axl stuttered to the Red Demon.

"Oh, really, was it?" Zero growled, who was reaching for his beam saber.

Axl replied while taking a step back, "Yeah, just a joke, and I gulp see you figured out who dyed your hair now..."

"I knew it was you, which is why I'M GONNA REPAY THE FAVOR!" Zero yelled swinging his saber at him.

"HOLY CRAP!" Axl yelled.

Thus Axl ran out of the gym with Zero right behind him, starting the chase around the Hunter's HQ. Dracos managed to find one hiding spot that was good, that is, if you count the janitors closet a hiding place. Axl whizzed by and managed to jump inside before Zero ran right by. Axl let out a breath of relief, as did Dracos, who were now cramped in the small closet.

Axl whispered, "I think he's gone now."

Dracos replied, "Me too, man, that guy is a hot head."

Axl asked, "Yeah, it can't get any worse, can it?"

Zero, who was listening outside of the closet, opened the door and replied with a deadly smirk, "Oh, but it can."

Axl whimpered out, "Me and my big mouth."

Dracos just said in a small voice, "Damn you Murphy's Law."

Dracos got out of the closet first and asked Zero, "Now Zero, before you do anything to us, I must ask, WHAT THE HELL IS THAT!"

(I got this old joke from the movie, "Back to the Future")

Dracos points behind Zero and, of course, Zero falls for it. The two friends then zip out of the hallway, running as fast as they could to find a better hiding spot. Zero was still following them around the whole HQ, now shooting some level 1 buster shots at the two. In-between all of the dodging, Axl and Dracos managed to find a fork in the hallway, and both split up, hoping Zero would go after the other. However, Zero thought ahead for once.

"Time to test out the new move I've been working on, DOUBLE TROUBLE!" Zero yelled.

He made an exact copy of himself after a few seconds, and each Zero ran down one hall, toward their victims. Both Axl and Dracos came to dead ends, and thus the Zeros managed to catch them and beat the living crap out of them. Zero then left the two, who were withering in pain, and joined the rest of the hunters for the thanksgiving dinner or what was left of it.

Axl was the first person to finally get up from the beating Zero gave him, and met Dracos at the end of the hallway. Dracos looked like he was run over by a few semi-trucks, while Axl looked like a maverick reploid got him. All in all, they were still alive, and maybe a little wiser about whom to pull pranks on.

"Remind me to never, ever, pull any pranks on Zero, or at least to use my quicksilver ability to slow him down next time," Dracos weakly said.

Axl replied, "I will if you'll remind me to next time use my chameleon ability to get us out of trouble next time."

Both answered, "Deal."

THE END

I had a complaint from a reader that this chapter needed redone, saying it was not good enough, that's why I reposted it.

Ja Ne!

(read and review please!)


	5. The First Sin

(Here you go, this story will continue on for a while.)

(Oh, and I got this idea from Fullmetal Alchemist, so it's not my own.)

Disclaimer: I don't own any of the megaman characters except for Dracos.

The First Sin

It was a few weeks later that Zero decided to forgive Axl and Dracos from pulling those stunts. Zero was training his team for sudden maverick attacks while Axl and Dracos were up to no good again. Before Zero started on the last person, who might I say is leaking in his armor, Axl switched Zero's original beam saber with a toy sword.

When Zero found this out, while trying to slash at the rookie, well, he hunted Axl down beat the crap out of him again.

Axl still had a good laugh over that. When Zero tried to block a buster shot, his sword melted and he was standing there with his mouth open. Then the rookie shot him again, but this time, he scorched the end of Zero's hair. This pissed Zero off big time! Zero then called the training off until tomorrow and started hunting him.

"Man, I've never seen a guy get mad over a few burnt split ends," Axl said.

Dracos replied with a smirk, "You should see him mad when someone literally chops off some of his hair."

So, Axl was heading towards his room, hoping to catch a nap, when the alarm went off again.

Axl, "AH, COME ON, DON'T THEY EVER TAKE A BREAK?"

No answer. Axl just sighed, rushed to his room to get his guns, and headed back to the briefing room. On the way, he thought he heard someone chuckling in the broom closet.

The four teammates met up in the briefing room, waiting for Signas to show up, which was only five minutes later.

Signas, "As you know, the mavericks are attacking again, but it's worse..."

Dracos, "What do you mean sir?"

Signas, "There was a report of a maverick attack at the lava energy plant, yet this time it wasn't an army."

Signas, "Only eight mavericks took down the plant in only a few minutes."

Zero, "Holy Crap, they must be powerful!"

Dracos, "Agreed."

Signas, "Anyway, two of the eight mavericks are attacking the Nuclear Energy Plant, X and Zero will go and stop the meltdown, while Axl and Dracos find out who our mysterious mavericks are."

X, "Why not let Zero and me go and identify the mavericks?"

Signas, "Because Axl and Dracos are better at spy missions than you or Zero, and they can't stop a meltdown, they weren't trained to do that."

X, "But-"

Zero, "X, it's alright, we'll handle the core while Axl and his friend handle the sneaking."

X, "………..fine."

Signas, "Ok, let's head out!"

They arrived at the plant in only a few minutes, hoping to take the mavericks by surprise. X and Zero headed to the core room while Axl and Dracos located the mavericks, who knew they had company. Axl headed to the eastern part of the plant while Dracos took the north. Axl went from room to room, still couldn't find the signal. He finally found the signal again and followed it to a huge room, only there was a surprise waiting for him.

Axl, "hmm, the signal stops here, so where could the maverick be?"

A giant golem Maverick dropped down from the ceiling, barring a huge claw on his right and a torch on his left. The head was worn and damaged, probably from being used to many times, had only one eye and the same type of crystal on his forehead the Blast Hornet had. The rest of it seemed to be missing though, as if it was chewed off.

Axl, "Guess that answers my question!"

The golem activated his torch and blew some fire towards our little friend. Axl managed to dodge, only to get hit by the claw. Shrugging it off, Axl jumped over the golem and started blasting it with his pistol. The shots, however, just bounced off the armor since it was made to withstand the heat from the nucleic radiation. Axl just slapped his forehead for forgetting to aim for the crystal. The golem blew some more fire at Axl, while he was scolding himself, burning his arm a bit.

Axl jumped onto the maverick's head this time, and pointed his pistol at the crystal. The golem was thrashing around, hoping to shake Axl off, but it was all in vain. Axl hung on for dear life and when he had a chance, he rapidly shot at the crystal. The crystal shattered and the maverick fell silent.

, "Excellent, never thought you would be able to disable that thing."

Axl looked up towards the noise and found one reploid standing on the catwalk.

The one who spoke had a manly body with some muscles. His face was tanned to a light brown, had an eye patch over his left eye, and he had a frilly mustache.

, "Not bad for a little runt, that golem was one of the best ones made, and you took it down in no time."

Axl, "Who are you?"

Pride, "My, aren't we demanding, I'm Pride of the Deadly Seven, the new future maverick group."

Axl, "Hey, Blast Hornet told us about you, you the ones who made him go mad!"

Pride, "Correct runt, we rebuilt him and gave him the new ability, thanks to our nanomachine technology."

Axl, "Nanomachine technology?"

Pride, "I've said too much, time to leave."

Pride starts to run off, but stops and walks back, holding something.

Pride, "Oh, and I believe this thing belongs to you."

Pride throws the object down to Axl, which lands near him with a grunt. Since it was dark, Axl couldn't see what it was, that is until the object started to move. Axl walked over to see a burned reploid with dragon gauntlets on his arms.

Axl, "Dracos!"

Axl looked up to yell at Pride, but the maverick was already gone. A few hours later, X, Zero and Axl were waiting at the infirmary, hoping to hear about their friend. Lifesaver came out of the room looking a little grim.

Zero, "Well doc, is he ok?

Lifesaver, "He will be, only we had to replace some of his body parts because most of them we burned off."

Signas, "Let's hope he gets better ten, anyway, status report Zero?"

Zero, "When we cooled the core down, we found out that one rogue maverick was keeping the worker drones hostage, X managed to get a peak at the hostages."

X, "One of the workers managed to distract the maverick saying something about a 'deserving a promotion for the capture' and this maverick, being stupid, left the room, allowing Zero to rush in and get the hostages out."

Signas, "What about the maverick though?"

Zero, "He's in enough trouble already."

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Maverick, "Good news, I just talked to Sigma and he said that I'm..."

The maverick looks around, expecting his hostages to still be there, only to find a empty room.

Maverick, "I'm...I'm...I'm in deep $..!"

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Signas, "Very good, rest now and we'll head out again later."

As Signas walked off, our friend Dracos was awaking to look at the new him. He still had his gauntlets, a different red body, a pale face, green eyes, and a head of silver hair. Dracos liked the new him, only his name didn't fit.

Lifesaver, "Dracos, your awake, how do you feel?"

Dracos, "Fine, only, Dracos is not my name anymore...it doesn't fit."

Axl, "What should we call you then?"

Dracos answered a few minutes later.

Dracos, "I've been through hell with the help from my brother, Vergil..."

Dante, "Call me...Dante."

Axl, "Who's Vergil?"

Vergil, "I am."

A reploid with white hair, similar to Dante's, appeared in the doorway. He wore a blue trench coat with a gold dragon on his color, he had green eyes like Dante, and he was carrying a huge katana.

Vergil, "I came to help the maverick hunters, I have the whereabouts of these maverick scum."

End Chapter

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There is still more to come my friends, so please read and review!

-Hydra


	6. A Hint of Lust

I know it's been a long time since I updated, but can you blame me for having writers block? Anyway, this is the next chapter in Blades of Time, hope you enjoy it.

Chapter five: A Hint of Lust

Zero couldn't believe what he was seeing, Dante's brother. Everyone had asked him time and time again if he had any family members left after the war on his hometown, but he would always answer "no". Now, we see that he did indeed have a living family member, or an exact clone of Dante. If it wasn't for the spiked hair, blue trench coat, and the huge katana he would be an exact duplicate.

"I found my brother wondering the plant after he was taken apart by one of those mavericks and I managed to save him if it weren't for Pride," Vergil said.

Dante gave him a weird look and said, "Was that before or after you knocked my head into the wall?"

Axl laughed at that while Vergil ignored his brother and continued to talk with Zero about his appearance at the plant. Dante sat there on they bed and started thinking about the maverick he took on, a weird fat looking maverick. Zero then started talking to Vergil about his sword, quite fascinated to

Zero looked at him and asked, "Do you have any data on these mavericks?"

Vergil gave a small sigh, "Only one of them, they detected me before I had a chance to scan the rest of them."

Dante smirked, "You weren't always the sneaky type, Vergy."

Axl gave a snort at the nickname.

Vergil only shook his head. "Anyway, I'll give you the information when the idiot is ready to go."

That was one nasty glare Vergil got from Dante. Apparently they still had a brotherly feud going since they split up from each other for over five years.

Zero answered, "Very well, in the mean time, welcome to the HQ."

Vergil turned towards the door and said, "I'll stay with my brother for now, and if you want Zero, we can spar later on."

Zero nodded toward Vergil, meaning he accepted the challenge, and left through an opposite door. The Red Demon really could not wait to test out Vergil's skill for that huge katana. Vergil left through the door he was already facing, leaving Axl and Dante to talk. After a few hours into their conversation, the alarm went off. After a minute of cursing, Axl and Dante were in the briefing room. Signas came in a few seconds later, explaining to everyone about the attack on the Siberia Science Labs. He told Dante to remain behind for this one because he really did not look ready to tackle another mission. Zero, Axl, and Vergil were there in a matter of seconds. The Lab looked almost normal if you didn't see the burned marks or most of the destroyed buildings.

Zero said to the others, "Ok, we're gonna have to stay together for this one, 'cause we do not want another bad accident like what Dante had."

Axl answered with roger while Vergy

(Vergil: his sword pointed at my throat What was that?)

(Me: nothing!)

– Vergil just grunted in return. The trio entered the labs without much trouble from the defense system, which apparently was not recognizing them as friends. Dispatching the security system after an hour of fighting, our heroes made it to the command room which looked like it took on hell itself and lost, and started scavenging through the computers and debris to find any clues. Axl took the computer while Zero and Vergil scanned and worked through the debris looking for anything, living or dead.

Axl called out, "Guys, I found something!"

Zero came over, leaving Vergil with the rest, "What's the situation?"

Axl turned to the computer and pointed out, "I found who attacked the labs, it looks like a maverick woman."

Zero took one look at the video monitor and gasped. He was looking at someone he lost in the maverick wars along time ago, a brown-haired, green-eyed girl with the face as beautiful as a flower.

Zero, "I-I-Iris!"

That is when all hell broke loose.

The said girl came crashing through the wall which Vergil was working next to. She was wearing red armor with hint of blue around the torso area; she had a red beret on her head and was carrying a huge lance. She looked at Zero with an excited look in her eyes and a smile on her face.

"Zero, I knew you were still alive," said Iris.

Zero was shocked and amazed that she was still alive as well. He quickly shook a bad thought out of his head and looked at Iris.

"How are you alive, I watched you die at the Final Weapon." Zero exclaimed.

"I did die, but my body survived the explosion and was floating in space for a few years," Iris gave Zero a grin and continued, "My body was recovered by Pride, which he managed to repair and brought me back to the living."

Iris turned her back on the hunters and continued her story, "He trained me to be a Class - A warrior, which gave me the hope of finding you again Zero."

Zero gave her an angry look, "Yet you joined them, you attacked this lab and killed the innocent reploids and humans!"

Iris looked at him with a frown, "Everything has sacrifices, but the bodies you saw were the enemy, I made sure the scientists and civilians got away before I caused some damage, and I also ran away from the Deadly Seven to find you again, Zero."

Iris came up to him and grasped his right hand in her own, "I want to go back with you, I want us to be together again, not fighting each other but fighting together against the group."

Zero hugged Iris on the spot, tearing with happiness that he found his light, his love again. Axl was starting to tear up over the happy scene until Vergil gave a yell. Another female crashed through the wall, this one looking almost like Iris. Except for the lance, she had black hair, red eyes and she was wearing a black dress.

Iris looked scared, "Oh no, they must've followed me!"

The mysterious lady turned towards Zero, showing off some (ahem...) assets towards the hunters. Axl was really having a hard time looking at her.

"Ah, you must Zero, the one Iris was talking about," The woman said, "And she wasn't kidding when she said you were cute."

If you thought Zero's armor was red, you should see both Iris and Zero's face.

Zero looked at her and drew his sword, "I'm not one to fight a lady, but I can always make an exception."

Axl took Iris away from the fight while Vergil joined Zero, ready to fight to the death.

"I always loved to fight huge muscled men," the girl said with a smile while readying her lance.

Zero looked like he was about ready to toss his lunch at the sentence. Axl looked disgusted at that while Iris just gritted her teeth at the girl.

Vergil glared at her and said, "We are not here to talk, what is your name?"

"Ah yes, forgive me, my name is Lust," Lust pointed her lance at Zero, "And when I win, you will be mine Zero!"

To be continued…….

(Sorry it took so long to update, I've been going through some hard times at the moment. To all of my readers, I thank you for reading my story and for reviewing. If you would like to talk to me about ideas to add to my story, contact me by e-mail or AIM, I'm on in the afternoons. And if anyone is wondering, yes I did change my name from _hydra man.EXE_; I found it a little childish. The new name is only temporary until I come up with a new permanent name for myself. Until then, enjoy the story!)

(AIM sn: DarkAxel0 or XemnasDark98)

(E-mail: 


	7. Waltz of the Heart

I know most people are not really happy with my new name, but it's my choice to change my name. It represents the story I'm writing, so I like it.

Disclaimer: I only own the Deadly Seven Group, Dante, and Vergil (my version)

Waltz of the Heart

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(Axl, "Jeez, do you really have to kill her?")

(Me, "She'll just be knocked out, for the last time!")

(Axl, "With a spear through her torso?")

(Me, "Just read the friggen story!")

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(Ok, to the fight scene, CUE THE MUSIC!)

Lust came rushing at Zero with her lance out in a piercing fashion, however, Vergil intercepted with the Soul Saber he found in the rubble. While Vergil held her off, Zero took the chance to jump from behind him and slash at Lust. It almost worked, if Lust didn't jump away leaving Zero to attack the ground. Zero jumped after her, doing a six-combo slash which led to a shockwave knocking Lust into the wall. That is when Axl stepped in.

Axl let loose a hailstorm of energy bullets from his twin magnums at where he last saw Lust crash. After the dust cleared, Lust was standing with six silver lances surrounding her, shielding the attack. Because of this, Axl earned a lance to his right and left arm, pinning him to the opposite wall. With a yell, Zero rushed towards her attempting to impale her. Lust saw the attack coming and impaled him right through the stomach and out the other side. She threw a few more knives and nailed him on the south side of the room. All that was left to do was to get rid of Vergil.

Vergil managed to slip past her and impale from behind, only to get smacked in the face by Lust. This sent him flying into the wall, but not out of this world. He sprang back up in Lust's face and knocked her into the computers, giving her a 500 volt shock therapy.

"Oh my, that was delicious, I want more," Lust said coming out without a scratch on her.

Vergil put the Soul Saber on his back and readied the katana, "Very well, I'll grant your wish."

Whatever Vergil did, it worked. He managed to shift into her face and deliver a punch to the jaw which sent her into the ceiling. He then delivered a kick to her torso, ripping her out of the ceiling and into the floor. When Lust was able to see him, he was wearing a pair of gauntlets and grieves. He was in a boxing stance, ready for another fight and did he get a fight. Vergil rushed forward again, making his opponent think he was going to punch her, but instead he pulled his katana out at the last minute and slashed her ten times. The sword strokes were so fast; you would think he got her once. When his back was turned, however, Lust K'Oed him into the floor with her fourth lance leaving him immobilized.

Lust turned to Zero and said, "It's such a shame, I expected more from the Red demon." She pointed her last two lances at his throat, ready to cut his head off. Zero looked up at her and spat out, "I am no demon, I'm just a mere shell of my past self, a nothing."

Lust pouted, "Aw, that's too bad, I was hoping for-"

Iris had enough of her and attacked. She was pretty good with the lance, even though it looked a little big for her. "Stay away from him, witch," Iris exclaimed, "He is not a toy for you to play with!"

Lust got up from the ground and healed the hole she had in her stomach. "Looks like the tiger has a growl to her, lets see if you have the backbone," She said drawing her remaining two lances.

Lust ran at Iris with the lances extended, trying to spear her. Iris saw this coming and dodged the assault while catching Lust on the leg. Lust stumbled a bit, but managed to catch herself and turned to Iris. With only one lance, she managed to spear Iris through the stomach and into the ground. Iris coughed up some blood while Lust stood over her with a smile on her face.

Lust said, "Now that you are out of the way, Zero will be mine."

Zero, who managed to pry himself off the wall, stabbed her through the chest with, not only the spear and knives, but with a new saber he found. "I was never yours to begin with," Zero yelled. Lust knew she was no match for him and teleported out of the lab with her lances as well. Zero took Axl down from the wall first while Vergil pulled himself out of the floor with his body still intact. Zero rushed over to Iris and helped her up carefully off of the floor. They teleported back to HQ with Zero carrying Iris to the Medical Wing at mach speed, hoping he was not to late to save her.

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To be continued…….

(Next chapter will be a little sad, so I'd recommend having either a wash cloth or tissue handy. Until then, Ja Ne….. )


	8. Hey!

Hey fans, just to let you know I'll be updating again. Thanks to the dreadful writers block, I was unable to write for weeks, however, I have my second wind and I'm already typing up a chapter for two of my stories right now! Thank you for your faith and your attitudes to my dilemma and to spice some of the stories up, I'm including new weaponry in Blades of Time and A World Between. If you have any suggestions to my stories on the characters or weaponry, feel free to email me at a lot!

Sincerely,

Hydra man.EXE


	9. A Final Farewell (Maybe)

A Final Farewell to my fans.

To all of my reviewers, friends and fans that have loved my stories from years ago, I have but a few words to spare on my behalf about my stories. It's not pretty, but they must be said:

I am afraid that I'm no longer going to post stories.

Why you ask? Because I am not a story writer and real life has taken its toll on me. Yes, many good things have happened to me over the years: I'm getting married within a few months' time, I am still going to college and I'm holding down a wonderful job.

Now the bad…..

Stress has gotten to me beyond normal levels for a human being. There were many points I was about to take my own life because I couldn't take the pressure of my social life, school and trying to find time for myself….. In viewing this, I'm failing my college on the grounds of my own stupidity.

Call me a coward for the attempts, call my moronic for even thinking it, call me a hypocrite for almost losing all the good I have in my life or call the Insane Asylum (they'd only throw me out, I'm insane to the point of sanity). That is how bad I feel right now. Why I have not put a weapon close to my neck and just finished the job is nothing short of a miracle to me. One half of me said "Do it," another half said, "Live and be happy." Guess which one always wins out?

I digress.

If I feel like it, maybe I'll post a new, improved chapter/story for my collection. One-shots have been my fave because most of them carried heavy morals for people to learn from. Anyway, do not worry about the whole suicide thing now; I'm already seeing a therapist about my problems and hopefully will be back to my normal insane-self for some comedic one-shots rather than Angst or Tragedy.

This has been the schmuck known as hydra , signing off.


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